USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Somerville > Report of the city of Somerville 1930 > Part 16
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The proposal for organization of the Leagues came from the headquarters of the Recreation service under the Commis- sion. Communication and meetings among teams and their representatives were afforded at the same headquarters, and the service of a part-time worker under the Commission were an important factor in the encouragement, the planning, and the successful conduct of the leagues. At the same time, the leagues were self-supporting, self-reliant and self-expressive of their members. The governing forces in the Leagues were the Boards of Officers and Directors, who held frequent meet- ings.
At the close of the season, trophies were awarded to mem- bers of the winning team of the Municipal League by gift of His Honor Mayor Murphy; and to the Amateur League win- ners by Hon. Felix Forte of Somerville. Attending the awards fitting ceremonies were held, at which His Honor the Mayor was present.
Hundreds of Somerville people besides the participants were afforded recreation by the activities of the leagues dur- ing the season; and the great social-civic value of organized public recreation were brought to the attention of hundreds of residents.
A very important phase of these activities is the pre-sea- son preliminary preparations during February, March and April. In this pre-season period were held various meetings for organization, Committee meetings, etc. which have, the Director believes, great social-civic value to Somerville as a community. Groups from distant sections of the City met in common enterprise. Exchange of ideas and reflection on the recreation opportunities available and needed in Somerville are some of the products of this business.
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ANNUAL REPORTS
So strongly have the possibilities in this line of organized recreation been demonstrated, that it is beyond doubt that, with proper and adequate leadership available for further de- velopment, there is possible in Somerville a far-reaching organ- ization of men and youths who would be actively interested in an all-year program of indoor and out-of-door sports, with great profit to themselves physically, socially and morally, and with immeasurable benefit to the community at large.
Other by-products of the league activities mentioned in- clude their effect upon the organization of other adult activ- ities discussed in the following paragraphs of this report, and the correlation of the league activities with those other activ- ities.
ADULT BASKET BALL. Acting upon the experience and the contacts gained through the promotion of the Base- ball Leagues, and unon the conviction neariously mentioned, as to the possibilities for further development of organized all-year athletics for men, the Recreation service has also am- plified its efforts and multiplied its previous results in pro- moting Basket Ball activities for men. At present there is a flourishing league of ten teams, playing five games each week, with nearly a hundred players and managers registered. In addition there are, as in the case of the Baseball league teams, scores of additional persons intimately associated with the teams, and sharing with them many of the recreational val- ues. Again as in the case of the Baseball leagues, passive recreation and appreciation of the social-civic values of the general municipal recreation program are afforded to large numbers of spectators.
In addition to the league mentioned, it is highly probable that five or more teams will organize in a second league now being promoted. Five teams have signified the desire.
Assets to be noted in this development are
(1) The foundation already existing from the sea- son 1929-1930, when a smaller and less known league was successfully promoted ;
(2) The great advantage of additional courts available at the new gymnasium at Central Hill, which during 1930 became available for use under the Recreation Commission, as dis- cussed hereinafter; and
STARTING A BASKET-BALL GAME
JOLLY BALL FOR MEN, EVENING GYMNASIUM
1
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RECREATION COMMISSION
(3) The skillful, effective and faithful services of the same part-time leader who had borne the major part of the work in promoting the orig- inal Basket Ball Leagues, and also the Base- ball leagues discussed above, and the Bowling Leagues discussed below-Mr. Joseph A. Regan.
By-products from these basket-ball league activities, of value to the general progress and development of the Muni- cipal Recreation program in general, include
(a) Their effect upon, and correlation with, the Evening Gymnasium activities for adults ;
(b) Their contributory effects, together with those. of the baseball league activities, upon the move- ment, discussed below, for organization of Bowling leagues ;
(c) The effect that they, with the leagues in other adult activities, will have upon the second and following seasons of all the Out-door Twilight- Hour Recreation for men, concerning which report is made in the following paragraphs :
(d) Their effect upon, and correlation with, the Evening Recreation Centers for adults, dis- cussed below, for which the season is nearly coincident with the season of the basket ball leagues.
In general explanation of the foregoing statement, it may be said that the contacts established with individuals and groups by the staff of Recreational workers, through all of the activities mentioned, are cumulative in effecting that grasp, which the Recreation service must, to be effective and adequate, steadily acquire, upon the community, the people, their association, grouping and interests; and that the exper- iences, contacts, and classifications of interests obtained in furthering each of the branches mentioned have been, and will progressively continue to be, applied to each of the others.
BOWLING LEAGUES. Two Bowling Leagues for men, including twenty teams with approximately two hundred reg- istered, are in operation, promoted under the Commission. Actual Bowling activities are once a week over a five month sason. Pre-season meetings, etc. as in the cases of the Base- ball and Basket Ball Leagues, are to be noted as making a
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ANNUAL REPORTS
similar contribution, to the development of the social-civic spirit and interest of the community, that has been noted in the discussion of the Basket Ball Leagues. As in the case of these other leagues, the groups of persons not directly par- ticipating but sharing some of the Recreational values are to be mentioned. And again as in the cases of these other leagues, important and similar by-products should be recorded in the report of the leagues and their affairs.
These leagues are called the Somerville Municipal Bowl- ing League and the Somerville Recreation League.
General out-of-door activities for men TWILIGHT-HOUR ADULT ACTIVITIES on nine-existing play centers was the field of experimental operation under your Commission for the four months, May to August, 1930. Pro- ceeding cautiously and with minimum expenditure, in pro- portion to the exploratory nature of the first season, the Rec- reation service has aimed, in conformity with its customary policy employed in other branches of the work during earlier stages of development, to build careful foundation, and to train workers in the special problem in hand.
In summary the estimate is expressed that the work is successful ; the results good and somewhat in excess of what might have been regarded as fair in proportion to cost; and the manifest probabilities for future development very high. In this estimate, account is taken of the serious problem of the time required to acquaint the public with its own oppor- tunities and rights in the direction now under discussion.
Of the nine units to which leadership was assigned, seven . were continued until the end of the season, because attend- ance, interest, and activity seemed to warrant continuance. The other two were discontinued, one after two weeks and the other after four weeks of experiment. It is the Director's judgment that in 1931 the same nine units should be attempt- ed, and possibly one or two additional ones. The experience of the 1930 season prompts the prediction that eight of the original nine would succeed as result of experience applied, and very probably the nine or more.
The locations of these units were at
Western Playground-Richard Trum Field Lincoln Park Saxton C. Foss Park Kent Street Playground
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RECREATION COMMISSION
John M. Woods Playground Glen Street Playground Dilboy Field Perry School Grounds
The last two named were discontinued.
ACTIVITIES. Activities most commonly pursued include horse-shoe pitching, quoits, Bocce, Playground Ball and Base- ball, in the order named. Paddle Tennis was played to some extent, and other games to minor extent. This branch of the Recreation work involves study by the leaders and knowledge of the neighborhood for whose recreational expression each center is intended-and all that is implied in that expression. With experience of leaders increased and such study pursued, far greater results should be expected in another season.
Gymnasium recreation facilities for men ADULT GYMNASIUM ACTIVITIES and women in the evening have become newly available, and administered through the Recreation Commission by co-opera- tive action on the part of His Honor The Mayor and the Commissioner of Public Buildings. Commenc- ing with the five evening sessions each week, and with a sixth session soon added, the gymnasium has been open during No- vember and December each secular night. The usual gymna- sium exercises, games, and classes made up the program.
Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday evenings are for men's activities, and Monday and Wednesday evenings similarly for women. Friday night .each week is assigned to games in the Municipal Basket Ball League discussed in the foregoing para- graphs. Each Friday four games involving eight teams are played, two games simultaneously on the two parallel courts. Spectators are admissible and have taken advantage of the opportunity.
The present plan is for continuance of the evening gym- nasium season into April.
Correlation between the gymnasium activites and those at the Evening Recreation centers, discussed hereinafter, is an important feature of the Adult Recreation program.
Rare excellence in the quality of leadership and instruc- tion at the gymnasium is an important factor in the success of the program.
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ANNUAL REPORTS
Serious administrative problems arise from the peculiar nature of the gymnasium plant. The building and its equip- ment are designed for "physical education" uses as distin- guished from recreation use. Illustrative of the importance of this distinction, and of the consequent difficulties, are the peculiar locker system; the scarcity of lockers available with- out interference with the High School program; the "class" shower system, which requires careful regulation and super- vision ; and the taking of showers only in groups of consider- able size. Other illustrations are to be found in the absence of accomodations for spectators, and the absence of a running track and some other features commonly expected in a muni- cipal gymnasium. Overcoming these difficulties requires, among other things, a greater expense than would otherwise be required.
ATTENDANCE Attendance among men, fair at the be- ginning, has been gradually and steadily on the increase. Attendance among women ranges from meager to good. The experience of other agencies, in and out of Somerville, in promoting gymnasium activities for women testifies that the growth of women's ac- tivities is usually very much slower. It is the conviction of the Director that the public's gradual acquiring of knowledge and information of gymnasium opportunities will soon lead to a wide use of the gymnasium by citizens.
Four public Evening Recreation Centers EVENING RECREATION CENTERS have been developed during the latter part of the year 1930. To qualify this state- ment, it should be iecalled that for sev- eral seasons, one center, for men only, with extremely limited facilities and leadership, and restrict- ed to very few activities has been in existence. This fact is, however, negligible as compared with the present development. The strictly part-time organization previously existing; the limited personnel, finances, and experience brought to bear ; the physical limitations of the school building used; etc., are some considerations on which is based the statement that the previously existing experiment is comparatively negligible.
OBJECTIVES. The Public Evening Recreation Centers aim at profitable Recreation-indoors-for adults, the promo- tion and encouragement of wise use of leisure time habitual- ly among citizens, and the development of an improved social- civic or "Community" spirit in Somerville. The present plan places the minimum age limit for attendance at seventeen years for both sexes.
AT THE EVENING GYMNASIUM
常
BRIDGE CLUB AT BINGHAM RECREATION CENTER
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RECREATION COMMISSION
The term "Recreation" itself, in the breadth and general- ity of its meaning, suggests the breadth and generality of the field of activity. To direct the leisure-time occupations of a large group of adults with their varied interests, aptitudes, desires, temperaments, degrees of education, occupations, home and social backgrounds, ages, etc.,-to cope with all these and other individual differences in such ways as to arouse and sustain interest and crystalize the resulting recreative ex- pression of them,-is far from a simple tack. To define for it- self a Municipal Department's own concept of worth-while indoor Recreation, to distinguish recreation from mere pas- time and again from mere pursuit of pleasure which is dissipa- tive rather than recreative ; to interest and enthuse an apathe- tic public in this definition; to devise practical ways and means for its application to the various communities within a City like ours, is obviously a complicated and most arduous task, for which any striking degree of success demands ex- pert, persistent, sustained, thoughtful study and energetic activity.
Any analysis, report, criticism, or statement of the Even- ing Center project recently launched in Somerville, should, the Director submits, be made carefully in the light of the views just stated: and also in the light of the shortness of time during which the Centers have thus had opportunity for development.
It will be generally agreed that proper recreation depends upon three factors :-
1. The possession of leisure ;
2. The existence of adequate facilities ; and
3. The knowledge of how to use the leisure and facilities.
Concerning the first factor, as applied to the local situa- tion. no discussion is necessary. The embarkation by your Commission into Adult Recreation activity assumes the pres- ence of this factor. It happens also, with the launching of the recent Evening Center project at a time of so much un- employment, that the Evening Centers seem to be meeting a need which, ordinarily great, seems far greater at present than ever.
Concerning the other two factors just mentioned, the Di- rector submits the following analysis :-
FACILITIES. With facilities limited to a few rooms and corridors in four school buildings, each accessible for slightly more than eight hours a week, and each equipped for
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ANNUAL REPORTS
an entirely different purpose from ours; with the psycholog- ical restraint that necessarily attends activity on another's carefully guarded premises; the field of recreational possibil- ities in our Evening Centers is seriously limited. Again, the traditionally austere atmosphere that is suggested by a school- room-particularly as school buildings have long been regard- ed in Somerville-is an impediment to the business of popular- izing even these limited facilities. Futhermore, even within the possibilities which still remain, competent supervision of activities in any variety to meet the varying tastes and inter- est of those attracted, requires a versatility in the leaders and directors which can come only with broad experience. To pay adequately workers experienced and possessed of the char- acteristics mentioned and implied, is impossible within the funds now available. And among Somerville residents such experience is rare if it exists at all.
To train a corps of leaders and directors for these Even- ing Center activities is among the most important of the sev- eral major tasks attending upon the present stage of develop- ment.
Regarding the third factor, namely knowledge of how to use the leisure and the facilities, it may be stated that here one approaches the essence of the task undertaken under your Commission :- to promote leisure time interests in the in- dividual, to acquaint the individual with the facilities, to organize activities in such way as to classify persons of sim- ilar tastes and interests, to make proportionate time allot- ments for various activities; to counteract the influences of present-day dissipating pleasures and pastimes; to do these without pedantry and without destroying the freedom and in- itiative of the individual, in short, without making work of play. The Director submits that this task demands thorough and thoughtful study of the respective communities in which the Centers are located (No two Communities are alike) ; re- peated interviews with individuals and small groups; selec- tion and encouragement of leaders in recreational activities ; a considerable amount of correspondence requiring time and clerical work; and a variety of other local contacts. In brief, the Director submits, the greater part of the business of con- ducting Adult Recreation Centers must, for success, be car- ried on not at the actual sessions of recreation hours nor in the Recreation Center itself, but rather all through the week and the year (especially between sessions and previous to the beginning of the season by way of preparation) and through- out the whole Communities served. It is a complicated task in applied sociology.
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RECREATION COMMISSION
In this connection quotation is submitted from a Bulle- tin recently issued by the Director to Evening Center Rec- reation workers enumerating the functions of Evening Center workers :-
"Functions of the Evening Center Worker"
"(1) To be a promotor; To start things where things. are not ; to originate thoughts and interests among: persons, and to see that these thoughts and inter- ests radiate among the largest number of persons ::
"(2) To develop a knowledge of the community or neigh -. borhood: To emphasize the community rather- than the Center (building), and to regard the- community in its Recreation interests, etc. :
"(3) To be searcher for ideals :
"(4) To be a counselor and friend of persons in the com- munity, especially when they come to the Centers:
"(5) To be an organizer: To organize committees, groups, volunteers, etc .; to get folks to do things. for themselves; to organize details of programs and activities and work them into a balanced Rec- creation program ; to multiply one's self so as to. promote successfully all the activities necessary to meet in any substantial way the demands for a. full program.
"(6) To be a technician: To know in detail how to con- duct Recreation activities ; to have skill in as many branches as possible; to be able to arrange pro- grams :
“(7) To be a publicist: To keep committees and the- general public fully informed regarding activities, the value of work and the results secured ; to make the most effective . use of newspapers, bulletin boards, show windows and the many other med- iums of publicity :
"(8) To be a co-operator: To work with others and get others to work with him; to be interested in other local problems, movements and organizations; to develop a sense of team work; to learn to obey in order to lead :
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ANNUAL REPORTS
"(9) To be a spiritual leader: To set a good example of conduct ; to instill in programs, activities, work- ers, and groups the spiritual value of clean living, sportsmanship and citizenship; to develop through program and personal leadership the higher qual- ities of character ; to be the embodiment of all that is best in the community recreation movement.
"(10) To be a student: To know the history, philosophy and psychology of the recreation movement; to keep in touch with the latest experiments, develop- ments and literature; to understand its relation- ship to other national social movements and to America's whole social problem.
What provisions to meet this task are now possible are here summed up.
"(1) All the workers employed excepting the Director, and one temporary full-week worker, assigned to this branch, are part-time workers and in their first season of endeavor in this field. Service by them other than service rendered during hours when the Centers are open, is necessarily inter- mittent and irregular as to time.
"(2) The Director, who is charged with ultimate re- sponsibility for the field work in these Centers, has duties including, in addition to those here dis- cussed, other duties dealing with the other branch- es of the work under the Commission included .in the scope of this general report.
"(3) No provision is financially possible for special as- sistance in the clerical, statistical, correspondence and publicity work that has been indicated as fund- amentally necessary to success in this field. It is necessary that such clerical work as can be done at all must be done by the only clerk in the em- ploy of the Commission whose other duties in as- sistance to the Director, the Secretary to the Com- mission and to the Commission itself, are various and burdensome.
LOCATION OF CENTERS. The four centers are located in the buildings of the Knapp, Morse, Bingham, and Western Junior High Schools. In each building a few rooms (includ- ing a double room at the Knapp Center and the auditorium at the Western Center, used during the day by children of the
DRAMATIC CLUB, MORSE RECREATION CENTER
WOMEN'S HANDCRAFT CLUB, KNAPP RECREATION CENTER
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RECREATION COMMISSION
lower primary grades (excepting at Western Center), are at the disposal of persons in attendance. Corridors are used al- so. At the Bingham Center one of the rooms available is the large room on the top story of the building, only partly fin- ished but ample in size as compared with the typical room at the Centers.
In connection with this mention of location of Centers and buildings facilities, attention is recalled to the correla- tion, mentioned above, between the gymnasium activities and those at the other Centers. This correlation is especially im- portant to the programs for those Centers which are altogetli- er lacking in facilities for indoor athletics, semi-athletic, and physical activities.
SESSIONS. Sessions at the Centers are held three nights each week. Among the centers the nights vary. The present schedule of night is a follows:
Morse School Building-Tuesday, Wednesday Friday.
Western Junior High School-Monday, Tuesday, Thurs- day.
Knapp School Building-Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Bingham School Building-Monday, Wednesday Thurs- day.
ATTENDANCE. The average attendance per evening for all centers is about 600 persons. Aggregate weekly attendance for all centers is slightly over 1800. The maximum recorded attendance for one center on one evening is 400. The maxi- mum aggregate weekly attendance for one center is 924. The minimum aggregate weekly attendance has been about 140. (recorded during the very early stages.) As the season pro- gresses, average nightly and weekly attendance is steadily in- creasing.
More detailed statistics of attendance follow :-
Average Weekly Attendance: Bingham 477
Morse 423
Knapp 599
Western 308
Nightly Attendance :
Bingham 160
Morse 140
Knapp 185
Western
100
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ANNUAL REPORTS
Attendance by Sexes: Exclusive of the Western cen- ter the ratio attendance by women to that by men has been about five to nine, covering the entire season, but as the sea- son progresses, the tendency is towards numerical equality between the sexes. At the Western Center the proportion of fe- male attendance has been extremely small until recently. At the present time a change is taking place.
ACTIVITIES. Activities are naturally diversified among the local communities to which each Center caters. Among the activities carried on are :
Handcraft Dramatic Clubs Basket Ball Quiet Games Social Games & Square Dances Men's Clubs Social Dancing Orchestras Young Women's Social Clubs Harmonica activities Instruction in Bridge Drama Tournament
Parties for special days (New Years' Thanksgiving, etc.) Tournaments in Chess Tournaments in Checkers. Men's Whist Club (Bingham) Glee Clubs Debating Women's Bridge Club Half-Hour Talks by prominent athletes and on Current Events
The movement to in- crease interest and organization of out- of-door activities for the seasons when the Centers are not open. (Reference is here made to the connec- tion, above, of correl- ation between the Evening Centers and the activities of Athletic Leagues in indoor and out-of- door sports.)
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